Oh! ... You're the one!

"Hey Mike, you want to write another book?" Bill Thompson, the former Seminary Book Store manager turned publisher asks.

"The Society of Salty Saints" made the Publishing Company lots of money so they want more.

It is slowly dawning on me that I'm not making all that much but ... they want another book which strokes my ego so, of course, I say "YES!"

It's a problem from the beginning.

They want another "Salty Saints" as my writing grows less sweet ... they don't like my title so they changed it to one I didn't like ... and when it's released ... it's a major flop!

"The Community of the Abandoned" ... isn't that a suck ass title? ... I wanted to call it "Embracing the Exile" but somebody else had already named a book something like that so I'm overruled.

Yet I have a fondness for it because ... it's dedicated to my family and when I walk in Grandma Carver's house to give her a copy ... she's napping on the sofa ... but immediately comes to life ... hugs the book ... hugs me ... tells me she loves me ... then to leave her alone so can read it.

I'll never forget that.

The other thing about "Community of the Abandoned" is Dr. Henlee Barnette comes to see me ... thanks me for writing it ... tells me stories about Clarence Jordan, the only Prophet Southern Baptists ever produced ... and teaches me writing is not about money ... it's about sharing.

Henlee Barnet taught ethics at the Seminary I attended ... hosted Martin Luther King, Jr. on campus and marched with him in other places ... and was the first pastor of the rag-tag inner city congregation I was inexplicable in charge of ... the Jefferson Street Baptist Chapel.

"It's a good book," he tells me with his feet propped on my desk "but it's not a popular one."

"Oh," I sigh.

"It's okay," he laughs. "I like it ... I'm the one."

And to this day if someone tells me they like something I've written I say, "Oh ... you're the one?"

"Move those books back to the table," Sarah orders today.

She's doing stuff with them and I'd placed them out of the way but she's not finished with whatever-it-is-she's-doing so they're back on the table ... so I pick it up and flip through it ... and have a nice visit with my Grandma Carver and then Dr. Barnett decides to show ... and he brings Clarence Jordan who is one of my heroes.

Laughing, I place the book back in Sarah's pile ... pet the dogs ... make the beds ... and marvel at how blessed I am.